Bible vs Satan - Part Two: Relevant Today?

The Bible vs. Satan – Part 2: How is the Bible Relevant Today?

Now that you’ve gotten a Bible that you genuinely understand when you read it, and have said your prayer before starting, what do you do?  Do you start at Genesis 1:1 and read a chapter or two each day until you reach Revelations 23:21?  For me, this idea is boring, and I can’t abide it.  I can’t stay tuned in to the word everyday if I do things this way.  For you it might work, but it doesn’t for me.

Granted, I’m also the kind of person who reads more than one book at a time. If one has a boring section, then I only read a chapter or so at a time until the pace picks up.  So that’s what I do with my Bible.  I have five bookmarks in my Bible, because I have split it up into 5 sections. I read a chapter from each section per day until that section is done, and then start all over again.

Section 1: Genesis – Esther

Section 2: Job – Song of Solomon

Section 3:  Isaiah – Malachi

Section 4: Matthew – Acts

Section 5: Romans – Revelation

Job through Song of Solomon in the Old Testament is considered the “poetry and allegory” section.  It is book ended by books of history.  So that is why the Old Testament is split up into three parts the way that I have it.  The New Testament is split up so that I have separated the Gospels from the Letters of the Apostles. 

If you follow my reading plan, you’ll finish the entire Bible within one year even if you miss a day or two now and then. More importantly, you won’t be bored by Deuteronomy or Leviticus and quit.  You’ll discover which chapter is your favorite,  (Isaiah is mine) and you’ll find that there are passages every day that interact with each other in the Old and New Testaments in new and interesting ways.

Another method you could use just as well is to read a chapter or two of Old Testament and a chapter or two of New.  This is a perfectly acceptable method as well.

Regardless of how you decide to delve into the word of God, what is most important is how you read it.  First, you must understand that almost every promise in the Bible can apply to your life in some way.  When God says in Isaiah 54:1 – For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, Says the Lord. He’s not just talking about Sarah here: He may be talking to you.

Now the reason I said “may be talking to you” is simple.  As you pray and read God’s word, the Holy Spirit will speak to your heart.  He will tell you which promises are yours and which are not.  You cannot claim the promises that are not meant for you.  When God tells Abraham that He “will make him the father of many nations,” (Genesis 17:4) – You cannot decide that this promise is for you by naming it and claiming it.

Several of the promises are yours, as they are for EVERY believer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31) This verse is a personal favorite of mine, because if you have an unsaved father, husband, daughter – God promises that your whole household will be saved by your belief in Jesus, because you will pray them into salvation through your obedience to the Holy Spirit.  Isn’t that awesome!

Then some of them are personally yours to claim.  But no matter what, you have to read the Bible taking into account that it is not LITERAL all the time, sometimes it can be applied to your situation without being taken out of context. 

For example, when Paul talks about food offered to idols in 1 Corinthians 10, this passage does not refer only to food and idols, but also to any other “sin” that people make up for themselves that do not necessarily apply to you.  What I mean in this is that if I find that playing video games distracts me from my life and my Jesus, then I can find playing video games is a “sin” for me.  But if I then say that playing video games is a sin for everyone, I am wrong.

All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.  1 Corinthians 10:23

Yes, Paul declared all things lawful for me.  But this does not mean that we should continue in sin so that grace can abound (see Romans 8).  If we want to be happy in Jesus, we need to be tuned into the Holy Spirit and God’s word constantly through prayer and diligent study. 

This also means that whether God was talking to Sarah, Jacob, Joshua, Gideon, Peter, or Paul: God might also be talking to you.  It is equally true at times when He is talking to the WHOLE nation of Israel that He’s talking to you:

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. (Isaiah 43:1-2)

“You are My witnesses,” says the Lord, “And my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He.  Before Me there was no God formed, Nor shall there be after Me.  I even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior. (Isaiah 43:10-11)

If you understand that God isn’t just talking to Israel when He said this, but He’s talking to you and to me, oh Christian, then you will understand why my favorite book of the Bible is Isaiah.

Oh I honestly hope that you are seeing the word of God in the light which it is intended.  God is the great physician, and His word is the balm of healing.  There is nothing that is happening to you now that is not mentioned in His word.  He is waiting for you to listen and be healed.

I have a super busy weekend.  I’m not sure when I will get to it, but I will post the third in this series sometime this weekend when I get a chance!  Thank you for reading, and I hope you’re being blessed!